Specificity of IS6110-Based DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostic Techniques for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex

Restriction fragment length polymorphism and hybridization of DNA extracted from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria, and nonmycobacterial species with a probe derived from IS6110 confirmed that IS6110 was specific to M. tuberculosis complex. In addition, DNA amplification with IS6110-specific primers yielded a 181-bp fragment only in DNA from M. tuberculosis complex isolates.